A return outing for Michael Thackeray and Laura Ackroyd. Thackeray returns from an assignment in the Midlands to find Bradfield uneasy about the quick arrest and likely conviction of a troubled black boy for the brutal of his headmaster. Laura wonders whether this is quite such an open and shut case as it appeared when DCI Hutton, drafted to Bradfield in Thackeray's absence,made his quick arrest. But Hutton is not slow to fight his corner when his judgement is called into question, putting Thackeray's career at risk and his relationship with Laura into question.